Delicious strawberries on the one hand, contaminated strawberries, for another. This is a very tasty, attractive fruit with its bright and striking color, sweet and even highly valued. But despite these advantages along with the healthy benefits provided by its nutrients, another point cannot be set aside. The one that the last study The Dirty Dozen, annual report prepared by Environmental Working Group (EWG), has analyzed. It is about the pesticides that this food contains when it is sold, something that is not so surprising either. This has been noticed for months, although here in Spain we should not worry too much.
Up to 22 pesticides on contaminated strawberries
The consumption of this delicacy from the field has always been very high, although so has its price. They contribute vitamins C and BInter alia minerals and they also contain low fat. In addition, they are antioxidants. However, strawberries are one of the foods with the most pesticides, until 22 in one piece. This has been shown by the study of EWG, a North American environmental organization. It usually analyzes each year the residues present in fresh market products in U.S.
Together with contaminated strawberries, they are also in more than 90% of the samples analyzed, the spinach, apples, or nectarines. At least like those foods that are marketed in United States with more than two types of pesticides. Luckily, in our country some are prohibited to use in cultivation, but others can reach our mouths. In 2009 the European Union already banned the fungicide carbendazim. However, other chemicals that are benign to our health continue to be used to help strawberries arrive in condition to the market.
When you touch any strawberry, you can already appreciate its faint texture, it is a soft and skinless fruit, that is exposed in the tree to all kinds of threats. That is why its regular sulphation is necessary. Also because that helps a optimal growth and maturation and even to have a better performance after harvest. But, despite the fact that they arrive in your shopping basket with residues of phytosanitary, agrochemicals or pesticides, they do not suppose «no risk" for your health.
This is how he explained it to the newspaper El Mundo the biochemist JM. crutch: «In Europe we do not have alerts for pesticides, their use is very controlled». This is because the allowed limits by community law, in theory. Therefore, do not worry about eating contaminated strawberries en Spain, despite everything that has been said so far.
